


Please come back

by Edens_Cat



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, My First AO3 Post, My First Fanfic, POV Pepper Potts, Pepper Potts Feels, Pepperony throughout the years, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), She loves Tony, Time is Not Linear, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony is an icarus, or so she says
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 11:38:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17487389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edens_Cat/pseuds/Edens_Cat
Summary: "From the moment they met, Icarus was the only word she could use to describe him. She would never speak it aloud, no, but in the quiet of her own company, she would whisper the word like a secret and her heart would feel."Pepper's POV with her time with Tony Stark. Little moments between the two of them and how she feels.





	Please come back

From the moment they met,  _ Icarus _ was the only word she could use to describe him. She would never speak it aloud, no, but in the quiet of her own company, she would whisper the word like a secret and her heart would feel.

 

_ “Tony.” Virginia could barely hold her wince at the tone, full of disappointment. At her side stood Obadiah Stane and together they looked down at a figure buried underneath a car. Quickly, that figure revealed themselves and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. Bright blue eyes and a confident grin revealed themselves, but that was not the thing that took her breath away. Of course she had seen that same grin and those blue eyes before, no one apart from the most socially recluse hadn’t seen Tony Stark’s face at least once before, but it was the sort of shine in those bright eyes that took her breath away.  _

 

_ Bright blue eyes that somehow looked so alive, yet so tired at the same time. _

 

Fast, he moved. He could never stand still and for that she pitied him. She saw throughout the years how his mind pushed him, waiting not even for his body to follow. Pushing and pushing, he never stopped even when his body begged him for rest.  And for as fast as he moved, he burned just as bright.

 

_ “What can I do for ya Obie?” He didn’t bother standing up, content with sitting on the board he was just lying on and unphased by Obadiah’s tone of voice. _

 

_ “Tony, This is your new personal assistant, Ms…” Obidiah trailed off as he stared at her expectedly. Virginia - not for the first, nor last time- bit back the indignation and smiles sweetly at the man at her feet. _

 

_ “Ms. Virginia Potts, Mr. Stark. It’s a pleasure to meet you” _

 

She saw him burn bright as he dedicated himself to his craft. Should anyone ask her if death was his craft, she would deny it with all her heart. They may call him the Merchant of Death, but she’s seen how he craves to create life. She sees it in his creations - Dum-E, U, Butterfingers, J.A.R.V.I.S- and the plans he makes that never see the light of day because they’re not “stark worthy”. She sees that same light, the one that craves life, dim just a little whenever Obidiah Stane walks in and demands weapons that will inevitably bring death. She sees it dim whenever Obidiah scoffs at the plans that never see the light of day, the reason why Tony Stark’s eyes go dull when he calls them “not stark worthy” because those are not his words but Stane’s.

 

_ Electric blue eyes raked over her frame and a she felt a shiver go down her spine. This was not what she expected. Although his eyes took in every detail of her appearance, she did not feel violated. His eyes were not undressing her, as she expected him to, but instead were merely observing. Looking at her as if she were a puzzle to be solved instead of a piece of meat. _

 

_ His observation couldn’t have lasted for more than half a second but it felt like an eternity for her. _

 

_ “Please, Ms. Potts, call me Tony.” _

 

Those three months that Tony disappeared were terrifying for her. She knew deep in her heart that Tony was not dead. She believed that the light in him would keep him going, the desire to bring life would give him life. And it did. But it was not the same. He came back like a phoenix from the ashes, burning bright and furious in a way she had never seen before. He came, he saw, he conquered. 

 

_ “Do you have a nickname?” _

 

_ Virginia raised an eyebrow at the man sitting beside her, now dressed in a suit rather than oil stained clothes. He merely looked at her through the top of his sunglasses with the same smug grin she had grown accustomed to these past few weeks. _

 

_ “My mother liked to call me Ginny,” she offers after a moment of silence. _

 

_ “Cute, but not quite what I’m looking for.” He smiles. _

 

She should have known better. Yes, he burned brighter than she had ever seen, but he was no phoenix. She’d known this all along. After the ‘Battle of New York’, as it had been dubbed, she saw his light going out as quickly as it came, and it scared her. Nightmares plagued him and, try as she might, her voice would not reach him in the place she could not follow. It was moments like these that she was reminded that his mind knew not the meaning of peace and the only reprieve he got from the loudness of his head was in unconsciousness. Or at least it had been. So she did what she had to. Losing him to his own light was not something she would let happen. Not on her watch.

 

_ “Pepper!” _

 

_ She startled at the loud voice that suddenly burst through the room. She looked up to see her boss, Tony Stark, panting and gripping the edge of the door frame with the biggest smile she had ever seen on his face. _

 

_ “Excuse me..?” _

 

_ “Your nickname! From now on, you are a Ms. Pepper Potts! It’s perfect!” _

 

_ Pepper laughed. “Oh please do tell me, Mr. Stark, how ‘Pepper’ is the perfect nickname for me?” He only grinned harder as he walked completely into the room. “I just couldn’t stop thinking about how beautifully you took down the grabby mayor’s assistant earlier today when it came to me! You’re fiery and passionate and a red-head to boot! Just like a pepper! I’m a genius!” _

 

_ “Well surely, if that’s the case, I deserve some of the credit for that discovery?” _

 

_ “I guess you’re right. How does 12% sound to you?” _

 

Her heart ached. She had to step away and she hated herself for it. She adored him, that she knew was true, but she was becoming blinded by his light. His light was slowly coming back, and it was bright and memorizing, and beautiful, but it was also dangerous. It was dangerous because he was not a phoenix. A phoenix could come back after burning out. A phoenix had no need to worry about bright their light burned. Not unlike an  _ Icarus _ . And it was so easy to forget that he was an  _ Icarus _ \- her  _ Icarus _ \- when he was his own sun.

 

_ “Hey Pep?”  _

 

_ Together they laid on the bed, under the soft silk sheets and so close their breaths intertwined. They had been laying silent, soaking up each other’s company, when the silence was broken by the hesitant whisper. _

 

_ “Yes, Tony?” She whispered back, peaking through her eyelashes at the man who would not do the same. _

 

_ “I… Do you know what my favorite quote is?” _

 

_ She shook her head minutely, eyes closing as she brought their foreheads together.  _

 

_ “Please tell me.” _

 

_ “I… I don’t know where it’s from but it goes…” His voice shook, unsure and hesitant in a way she’s never heard it before. He takes a deep breath, hand going down and intertwining with her own. “Vive ut vivas. Live so you may live.” _

 

_ “Ms. Potts, will you ‘live’ with me?” _

 

_ “Of course, Mr. Stark. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” _

 

It was happening again and she wanted to scream. She wanted to scream and shout at the universe for doing this once again. He was leaving her, she could feel it. They’d come together and come apart so many times that she knew not where she began and he ended. It did not exist. She was he and He was she. So infinite, like the night sky that plagues his mind, that plagues his life. And that is how she knows, even when all around her crumble to dust before their time while she stays firm, that somewhere in the sky he is fading away. His wings finally melting away. Falling. Crumbling to dust before his time.

 

_ They were together once again. Soft moonlight filtered through the large windows of their bedroom, glinting against the diamond set upon her ring. She carded her fingers through his hair and they soaked up each other’s company. With a whisper, she broke the silence. _

 

_ “Do you know what poem reminds me of you?” _

 

_ “Hmm?” He pushed his head into her hand, an unspoken request to continue. She did, and he laughed softly. “Don’t worry Pep. I know we’ll grow old together,creaky bones and all. I can feel it.”  _

 

_ He grabs her hand, and her heart swells in emotion. Somehow, she believes him. How could she not? After all, he is the man she loves. _

 

_ “I won’t break your heart.” _

  
  


_ “ _ **_I think you will_ **

**_Set yourself afire_ **

**_Before you realize_ **

**_That even you_ **

**_Cannot conquer the sun_ **

 

**_Rebellion sits well_ **

**_On you; like a red coat_ **

**_Or the gilt gold burnish of youth_ **

 

**_(I do not believe we_ **

**_Shall ever see how old age_ **

**_Looks on you_ **

 

**_You are breaking my heart.)_ **

 

**_-Elisabeth Hewer”_ **

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> Well, this is my first posted fanfic! I always tend to write stuff but I never have the motivation to actually finish. Mainly cause I can't keep a single, coherent train of thought but that's beside the point. I totally expected to write like 2-3 paragraphs of this and abandon it forever but then it went ahead and got so far that I just had to finish (Even if I didn't quite know how or did so in the way I really wanted)
> 
> (Also, the Pepperony came out of left field for me cause I always go for the platonic pepperony instead of romantic! I think it definitely shows tho... )
> 
> (Oh god it looks weird. i don't know for to format. forgive me!)  
> All comments are appreciated!


End file.
